Rex reached in to the Ortrix
The other was there and Rex felt like he knew them more intimately than ever before.
“You’re beautiful”, he said.
"We were a race of amazing creatures", the other agreed.
Rex looked his companion in the eye.
“Can I bring you back? Stop it ever happening?”
"That's not why we brought you here."
He sensed the other watching him.
“This is you, isn’t it?” he asked, holding the Ortrix up.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“In a manner of speaking,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} replied the other in a way that sounded melancholy, even though it lacked tone.
“All the Torim below created this? Became this before they died?” asked Rex.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Instead of dying,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} the other corrected, {{% voiceinthedark %}}“and not just the Torim below.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Although the other Torim lived, what little power they possessed was a power they all shared”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
“And now it’s all in the Ortrix?”
“So what happens next?”
“The Torim below created the Ortrix. If they didn’t make it as a weapon, then for what?”
The Other had materialised, and Rex searched his face for a clue. Instead, he was shocked to see his companion crying.
For a moment, Rex was speechless.
“I… I thought you were a god. But gods don’t cry.”
{{% voiceinthedark %}}All Torim were born with great power{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}But those below hummed with it, exuded it like a bright light from their being.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}It may have been an evolutionary trait, or simply that these were the Torim that embraced the power, revelled in it.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}The power was similar to that which you posses. It understood all things it touched, and embraced all it understood.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}Those who possessed it strongly would not fight when the others cast them down.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“And here they wait”.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
“What did I do?”
Rex and The Other walked the deserted city and Rex repeated the question again and again.
The Other remained silent and surveyed the desolation with a face Rex wouldn’t have been able to read even if he had been paying attention.
The city showed no signs of life. The streets and buildings were stripped of all technology, so not even the electrical hum of civilisation was left.
When he had arrived on this planet, he had reached into the planet to learn what had happened to its inhabitants. The picture was fuzzy, distorted and incomplete. The Other nudged him.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Try looking backwards.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
Rex shifted his focus. His previous time-travel helped. He reached backwards through time to follow the fate of this world.
{{% timereverse 1 %}} He watched huge ships land across the planet and disgorge millions of unhappy broken people. He saw them strip their ships of technology and begin to rebuild their cold city. The ships grew smaller. Generations grew young again and he watched as more and more of their dead returned to life.
The newly re-animated told dark stories about the sky-stranger that left instructions for them. {{% /timereverse %}}
“Rug weaving?”
Despite mastering the art of travel back to the white place, he had trouble doing it in reverse back to the normal world. The other had to help him, even more so because he didn’t know where they were going.
The other had taken him to a lovely little planet covered entirely with sand, except for one oasis just big enough for the village of four-hundred-odd beings who populated it.
About half the population Rex could see were doing the work of running a town: farming, milling, mending, cooking, cleaning. It looked like a pleasant place to live. The villagers were friendly and not surprised to see Rex, waving cheerfully and offering their simple hospitality to refresh him and his companion.
The half of the population who were not doing day-to-day work were sitting in a large village square, weaving. Weaving a giant rug. The bulk of the rug was rolled into a enormous cylinder that was twice the length of one of their modest dwellings, and about as high. He wondered who it was for, and how they intended to move such an immense object once they finished. He figured it must have taken them years.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Seven hundred years,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} said his companion.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“They have been weaving for eight generations and it will not be done for at least three more.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
Rex was flabbergasted.
“Why in space would they need such a large rug? What is the need for it here? Will they sell it?”
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“The Heeyaas were once a space-faring race, enamoured with the universe, and happy simply exploring galaxies in their life-ship.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} \
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“One thousand years ago they met the Xentash, another race who took their ship and stranded them on this planet. The Heeyaas were heart-broken but never without hope. They rebuilt their society, and when it was strong they began weaving again.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
“But weaving for what?”
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“The rug is the neural network that will command their new ship. It was the technology the Xentash coveted: an immense AI hand-crafted into the fabric itself. They have rebuilt their ship, better and stronger than before. They patiently weave and tell stories of the universe they will one day explore again.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
“Such patience,” exclaimed Rex, “to spend one thousand years, and so many lifetimes hoping to one day visit the stars again.”
Rex marvelled at the lesson the other had brought him here to teach him. And entire race dedicated to patience, wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“They will explore again,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} continued the other, {{% voiceinthedark %}}“but first they will hunt down and exterminate every Xentash they can find.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
He didn’t like the answer.
He was hoping for a solution like “Laser-Vision” or “Cosmic Hug” to the problem of Jones’ increasing power.
Instead he was advised to wait and master his own power.
“But what power do I have,” he asked, “other than a difficulty staying dead, full control of my hands in a place where I can’t use them, power to destroy things followed by crippling guilt, and now a painful link to someone who wants me dead and has already murdered me?”
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“You must trust me,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} replied his companion earnestly, “{{% voiceinthedark %}}you have time, and you will understand soon.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Without my assistance, I want you to withdraw yourself to the other realm. There is someone I would like you to meet.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
If the sensation of unmaking the rock was like a kiss, then this felt like someone was nibbling his ear.
In the moment before the pain set in, destroying the rock was exhilarating. The influx of power from unmaking something was intoxicating.
Since that moment, he could feel something similar happening over and over but further away, like ripples reaching him at the edge of a pond. Again and again something was washing him with power, but small, subtle and incremental. Unlike the power from the rock, this came with no guilt.
He wondered what it was.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Jones,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} replied his companion to his unspoken question.
His heart froze at the mention of the name.
“‘Jones’ what?” asked Rex, dreading the answer.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Jones has learned to unmake,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} responded his companion, and Rex wanted to throw up.
The sensation he was feeling had been there since he was vapourised, but he’d only noticed it since his experience with the rock.
“And he’s been doing it all this time?!”
He didn’t expect unimaginable power to mean he’d have to hug rocks.
“Why am I doing this again?” he asked the other, his arms encircling the rock he’d picked at random.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“You must understand the universe before you can shape it,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} replied his baffling companion.
“And I’ll understand the universe by hugging this rock?”
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“No,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} dismissed the other, {{% voiceinthedark %}}“you will begin to understand the rock. Do not think. Do not act. Only feel the object.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
Rex tried, he really did. This stupid exercise felt less like unlocking the mysteries of the universe and more like a lesson in humiliation. Maybe that’s all this was, a sort of “letting go of yourself” through doing something stupid.
He was starting to to get a little uncomfortable. The rock was jabbing into his palm, and it was roughing up his arms. The cool mass against his chest felt…
Rex felt it. Not just the surface, but the whole rock. He understood its composition, and could sense its density. He felt the moss growing at its base, the cool sand sucking from below.
Rex started to solidify.
Rex was itching to blast a hole in something.
You could put a gun in his hand and he was unstoppable.
But since the… accident… he could barely hold his form together. He felt powerless against an old friend-turned-enemy, and now he knew what it felt like, he couldn’t face the thought of another painful death.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}Perhaps you could unmake something,{{% /voiceinthedark %}} suggested the other, casually.
This time they appeared on a beach. As before, Rex was solid. As before, his companion was familiar, easily forgettable.
They were alone, but nearby the beach became rock and the other turned and walked toward the stones. Rex followed.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“Choose one.”{{% /voiceinthedark %}}
At least his discomfort was gone
The figure before him was a stranger, but someone vaguely familiar. He had thought at first he knew him, or was it a her?
Looking away for a second, he could not recall a single distinguishing feature.
“Who are you?” he asked, looking back.
The other hadn’t changed, still looked the same, but Rex still had trouble recalling him even while staring straight at her.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}“I am no one I remember,”{{% /voiceinthedark %}} came the familiar voice from the unfamiliar source, more resonant and somehow younger - though still ageless.
“You are a very confusing person,” Rex said, turning back to look out over the sea.